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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Adventures in Cooking

I'm pretty sure this has great potential to become a recurring theme on this blog. No, I'm not trying to be the next Julie from "Julie and Julia." I won't attempt to cook my way through any cook book or cuisines of the world. No, I am merely trying to stay alive.

You may or may not know that I'm not the greatest cook. I LOVE food, but when I try to create a dish myself, something usually goes wrong. And the mess I have to clean up later...don't even get me started. I have mostly avoided extended time in the kitchen until now. I want so badly to be a good wife and make good meals for my husband (meals that don't come out of a box).* So far, not so good.

For this edition of Adventures in Cooking, I present to you: Pot Roast.

This past Sunday, I decided to use my mom's recipe and make a pot roast. I was really excited to make a (mostly) healthy, home-cooked meal and I was fairly confident, because it was something I had made before.

The first step to cooking the roast is to season it and coat it with flour, then sear it in vegetable oil. My mom suggested that I sear the roast in the same pot it simmers in, so as to not dirty up another dish. I'm thinking, "Great idea, Mom! I'll do anything to avoid one more dirty dish!"

Here's a better suggestion: If your pot roast is larger than normal, don't sear it in a deep pot! It's not worth the five extra minutes it will take to clean skillet.

I thought I could handle the pot roast. I got an extra large fork to turn the roast in the pot. However, my extra large fork failed, and my pot roast plunged into the hot oil, resulting in hot oil on my face. My first thought was that the oil got in my eye. Marcus rushed me to the sink where I held my face under the cold, running water and cried. The burns were not nearly as bad as I first feared. There are small spots on my eyelid, nose and lip. With lots of aloe, Neosporin, Advil and a big icepack, the pain eventually started to subside.

Marcus was so great to take care of me, calling my nurse friend and some family for help, and even finishing the roast.

Needless to say, we ate hot dogs for dinner. They were delicious and pain-free. :) We had the roast the next day for lunch and it was also delicious!

I'm proud to say that this won't be my last pot roast. Next time, I will conquer it and I will take great precautions in protecting my face (and I will use the extra pan. And I will buy a smaller roast.) This will not be the last of my cooking endeavors, and I'm sure I'll have many more stories to tell. I hope you enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I am fully aware that being a good cook is not all there is to being a good wife. Marcus loves me despite my cooking mishaps. Whew!

That is really funny yet not surprising at all! :) I have a REALLLLY easy roast recipe that you cook in a crock pot (that makes only 1 pot to clean!. I will send it to you if you want! Good luck on your next dish. I'm sure it will be delish!

hahahahahahaI also laughed out loud. I can totally imagine this scene taking place. I haven't found my niche in the kitchen yet, that's for sure...just ask Chris. We aren't going hungry, but mostly because of things called drive-thru's. Glad to hear from Lauren it gets easier...Until then, I look forward to and expect more stories! ;)

Oh, I almost cried at the thought of hot oil in your face. I'm sorry, Stister. Cooking takes practice, no matter who you are. I've ruined lots of recipes, made HUGE messes, and yes, burned myself a number of times (and I nearly took off the end of my finger the first time I used our mandolin slicer!). Sending love your way.